Zombies at the Water Cooler

Maya adjusted her broad-brimmed hat, lowering it over eyes that had seen too many spreadsheets and not enough sunlight. Three years at Mercer & Associates had turned her into something that walked like a woman but moved like the undead — a corporate zombie, fueling itself on cold brew and false hope.

The breakup with David had been two months ago. He'd left her for someone younger, someone whose palm hadn't yet grown weary from tapping screens. Now, Maya's iphone sat face-up on her desk, a mirror that reflected nothing but fluorescent lights and the hollows beneath her eyes.

"You're taking your vitamins?" Sarah asked, appearing beside her like a ghost from HR. Sarah meant well, but her concern always felt performative, like everything in this glass-walled purgatory.

"Every morning," Maya lied. The vitamin D bottle sat untouched in her drawer. What was the point of supplementing sunlight when her soul had already adapted to the dark?

Then came the new hire, Julian. He didn't move like the others. There was something alive about him — the way he actually looked people in the eye, how he laughed with his whole body. He found Maya by the emergency exit one Tuesday, stealing a moment of real air.

"Nice hat," he said. "It's like you're hiding from something."

"Just the fluorescent glare," she replied, though they both knew it was deeper than that.

He reached out, his palm finding hers. The contact sent something electric through her deadened nerves. "You don't have to be a zombie, you know. That's a choice."

Maya looked at him — really looked. For the first time in years, she felt something stir beneath the ribcage. Not quite a heartbeat, but the memory of one.

"What if I've forgotten how to be anything else?"

Julian smiled, and it was the kind of smile that made you believe in impossible things. "Then we learn together."

Back at her desk, Maya took a vitamin from her drawer. She swallowed it dry. The iphone buzzed — an email from corporate about "synergistic opportunities" — but she turned it face-down. Some things, she decided, were better left in the dark.